Screened Inner Cover
/
Screened inner covers, left, help ventilate a hive and keep bees from flying up. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
Screened Inner Cover
It’s the middle of winter, bitter cold outside, and a number of beekeepers I know are getting cabin fever. Perfect time to introduce something we can all make at home for our bee hives, screened inner covers.
Most hives have solid inner covers that fit under the hive lid. They usually have an opening in the middle that helps with ventilation and bee traffic.
In summer, though, homemade screened inner covers are handy to have. They not only improve hive ventilation but keep bees from flying up so a beekeeper can take a peek under the lid without fear of getting stung. It’s great to have bees in the garden but bees in a hive can get defensive of their home.
Screened inner covers are easy to make. Using the solid inner cover as a guide, make a wooden frame the same size as the solid inner cover. If you have any woodworking skills, you can cut the corners at an angle. I don’t so I make mine the simplest way I know how, gluing the pieces like a picture frame.
A wood frame is simple to make using a solid inner cover as a guide. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
The biggest challenge may be in locating No. 8 hardware cloth, a gauge of wire mesh that keeps all bees from getting out.
Once you locate the hardware cloth, cut the wire mesh to the size of the wooden frame and attach with staples.
Number 8 hardware cloth attached to the frame with staples. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
Then add a two-bee wide notch in the center of one of the sides so bees have an entrance at the top of the hive through the screen.
Add a little exit in the middle of one side of the screened inner cover. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
I paint only the top side to preserve the wood.
Once you make some of these, you will wonder how you ever made it without them!
